Fake STAR WARS Midi-Chlorian Paper Fools Four Science Journals | Nerdist

"A Discover Magazine writer and neuroscientist who goes by the moniker Neuroskeptic created the study about midi-chlorians and their supposed effects on biology as an attempt at a sting operation targeting so-called 'predatory' scientific journals. Such publishers sprung up amid the rise of open-access academic journals, which charge the authors of papers for revenue rather than the readership. While this model works fine for rigorous papers that want public accessibility, predatory journals disregard quality control and simply charge authors exorbitant fees to publish their work.

In this case, there wasn’t a shred of reasonable science behind the paper, and Neuroskeptic notes that it should have been 'rejected within about 5 minutes – or 2 minutes if the reviewer was familiar with Star Wars.' The paper has an entire passage that’s simply an excerpt of Palpatine’s 'Tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise' speech, and Neoroskeptic even named the authors Dr Lucas McGeorge and Dr Annette Kin."